The Locator Identifier Separation Protocol (LISP) provides improved routing scalability and facilitates flexible address assignment for multi-homing, provider independence, mobility, and virtualization. LISP offers an alternative to traditional network architectures by introducing two separate Internet Protocol (IP) addresses: one to indicate routing locators (RLOCs) for routing traffic through the network and a second address for endpoint identifiers (EIDs) used to identify network sessions between devices.
Routers in LISP implementations utilize mapping caches that provide mappings between an EID and the RLOC through which an endpoint accesses the network. LISP implementations may also provide for mapping systems, sometimes implemented on standalone servers or distributed across a plurality of servers, which register and maintain a database of EID and RLOC associations. The mapping system accepts map request messages from routers when a router needs to send traffic to a particular EID but is unaware of the RLOC associated with the EID. The mapping system replies to the map request messages by providing the RLOC associated with an EID identified in the map request message.